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The National Cycling Show returns bigger and better than ever for 2024

Posted on by Ben Yeo

What are you doing on the 15-16th June this year?

If, like many thousands of fellow cyclists, you are looking to see the latest cycling products from both top and upcoming brands in one place, then the National Cycling Show, brought to you with  V12 Retail Finance, should be securely in your diaries for this summer.

Now in its third year, the NEC based National Cycling Show is the premier consumer show of its kind in the UK and attracts brands and visitors who come together in Birmingham to immerse themselves in all things cycling related. 

As well as experiencing the very latest gear in cycling, visitors will also be able to meet their cycling heroes with a range of speakers taking to the stage each day. For 2024, the National Cycling Show has pulled out all the stops and are thrilled to welcome none other than the legendary Sir Bradley Wiggins CBE as well as a host of other top cycling personalities over the weekend.

Away from the speakers, The National Cycling Show truly does have something of interest for all bike riders.  Whether you are a new or experienced cyclist and whatever your cycling preference from road, mountain bike, gravel or BMX, the National Cycling Show has a range of features designed just for you!

The Inspiration Stage will host interviews and panels with advice and tips for riders of all abilities.

The show will also feature MTB and BMX performances from Fusion Extreme, Bike maintenance sessions from Cytech training providers, CPR workshops and a bike packing and adventure biking zone where you can learn how to explore the world by bike.

Showcase Alley will welcome you with the show stopping bikes, whilst the Her Spirit zone and the Wheels for All hub present cycling initiatives which ensure that cycling is accessible to all.

As well as all the immersive features and engaging speaker schedule he National Cycling Show will welcome exhibitors showcasing products for visitors to buy. This is the ideal opportunity to grab yourself all the latest gear and speak to the experts.

The full list of these exhibitors can be found on the show’s website and includes Tredz, Atherton Bikes, Shand Cycles, Riese &Muller, Lake Cycling, VELO DE VILLE, Marin BIkes, MiRider, Nalini Clothing, Stolen Goat, Radical Bicycle Co, Shokz, Kalas, Shark eBikes, Yamaha eBikes, Vielo, Tempus Cycling, Nevis Range and many more.

So, whether you are an experienced bike adventurer, a singletrack slayer or are perhaps just looking for your very first bike, The National Cycling Show, brought to you with V12 Retail Finance, has something for you. The aim is to inform, entertain and talk all things bike with likeminded people. What more could you ask for?

The box office is open now at www.nationalcyclingshow.com with day tickets priced at £10 and weekend tickets costing £18.

For all press and media enquiries and media passes for the show, contact Senior Marketing Manager Hannah Hopwood at hannah.hopwood@raccoonmediagroup.com

For all sales enquiries contact Commercial Director Addie Brake at addie.brake@raccoonmediagroup.com

Legendary cyclists to headline at the National Cycling Show

Posted on by Ben Yeo

The National Cycling Show, brought to you with V12 Retail Finance, returns to the Birmingham NEC on June 15-16th and with it brings a star-studded speaker line up of cycling greats.

With speakers covering all aspects of cycling, there’s one name that resonates universally with riders across all disciplines: Sir Bradley Wiggins CBE.

Tour de France winner, eight-time OLY medal winner, five-time OLY champion and eight-time World Champion, Sir Bradley will be discussing his incredible career as well as what brought him to cycling and everything in between. The show presents a unique opportunity to hear from him first hand, to delve into his insights and perspectives and perhaps even grab a photo with him.

Speaking about his plans for show Sir Bradley said “I’m really looking forward to the event at the NEC Birmingham. It will be great to see everyone; and hopefully with the other guests; help inspire the next generation of cyclists, and current. See you in June.”

If long distance cycling is your particular interest, then world record breaking round the world cyclist Mark Beaumont will be a must see at the show. Away from the bike Mark is a passionate advocate for all cycling matters and gives great insight to mental preparedness for whatever challenge lies ahead.

Joanna Rowsell Shand MBE is also joining the speaker line up for 2024. OLY gold medallist and multiple World and Commonwealth Champion, Joanna will bring her passion for bikes to the stage as well as discussing the ever-growing rise in women’s cycling across the world.

For the mountain bike and trials riding enthusiasts, Jack Carthy will be on stage answering questions about life on knobbly tyres and competing around the world. At only 26 years old, Jack has already accumulated twenty-one World Cup wins, four UCI World Cup wins and is also a ten-time UCI World and five time European Trials Champion.

Duke Agyapong is a cycling advocate and campaigner as well as being a poet and a mental health activist. He also speaks passionately about diversity in cycling and making life on two wheels more accessible and desirable for all. Duke will be on stage and is a ‘not to be missed’ addition to the speaker line up for 2024.

The discussion hosts will be the ever-popular Rebecca Charlton and Matt Stephens who will entertain and inform in equal measure as they welcome the stars to the stage.

As well as the speakers and cycling stars, the National Cycling Show, brought to you with V12 Retail Finance, will welcome cycling exhibitors showcasing their products for visitors. This is the ideal opportunity to grab yourself the latest gear and speak to the experts!

The full list of these exhibitors can be found on the show’s website and includes Tredz, Atherton Bikes, Shand Cycles, Riese & Muller, Lake Cycling, VELO DE VILLE, Marin Bikes, MiRider, Nalini Clothing, Stolen Goat, Radical Bicycle Co, Beameo, Shark eBikes, Yamaha eBikes, Vielo, Tempus Cycling, Nevis Range and many more.

The box office on the website opens on February 8th with tickets priced at £10 for day tickets or £18 for weekend tickets. We look forward to seeing you there!

Tredz join National Cycling Show line-up

Posted on by Dan Catt

Leading online bike experts Tredz are heading to the National Cycling Show, brought to you with V12 Retail Finance, in 2024. The show, now in its third year, will run at the NEC in Birmingham on June 15-16th and will feature a wide range of leading cycling brands, features and personalities across its two days.

The National Cycling Show, brought to you by V12 Retail Finance, provides visitors with an immersive retail experience and the addition of Tredz cements an already packed retail offering of bikes, accessories and all things cycling.

Tredz are a well-known and respected online retailer who not only stock a huge range of bikes and bike related products but also have many years of experience to share. All of their bike builds are prepared by Cytech qualified mechanics and accept a wide range of Cycle to Work scheme vouchers. The National Cycling Show will give Tredz customers old and new the opportunity to meet the team and enjoy their bike expertise face to face.

Rob Laing, C2W and Events Manager, from Tredz explained that meeting so many of their customers was one of the driving forces behind the decision to attend the show.

“As online experts we pride ourselves on great customer service and we look forward to extending this at the show whilst meeting customers face to face. We will be bringing a wide range of products with us and will be displaying them across a large 250m2 stand. There will be something there for

everyone, whatever your preferred cycling discipline. We’re really excited to be part of the National Cycling Show and look forward to meeting you all” he added.

Addie Brake, Commercial Director for the National Cycling Show, expressed her delight at welcoming Tredz to the event next June.

“We’re thrilled to be welcoming Tredz to the National Cycling Show. Tredz are a trusted brand who are leaders in their field. They have so much passion and know-how and go to great lengths to get more people riding bikes, an aim that aligns brilliantly with the National Cycling Show. The 2024 show is set to be the biggest yet. 2023 was a huge success for the event with visitor feedback being incredibly positive and we will build on this for the 2024 show with new exhibitors such as Tredz joining the line-up of brands, high-profile speakers and interactive features and activations.”

The National Cycling Show’s Box Office is now open and for a limited time you can use the code LAUNCH for free tickets. If you would like to get involved and exhibit please contact

 addie.brake@raccoonmediagroup.com.

An introductory insight into starting cycling in 2024 from National Cycling Show ambassador Ryan Drayton

Posted on by Ben Yeo

The days are getting longer and spring is just around the corner, there has likely never been a better time to get into cycling than right now. Whether you are in pursuit of fitness gains, social group rides, mental health benefits or reducing your outgoings by commuting to work/school, it’s safe to say that we are in a buyers market and that there are a multitude of amazing offers from online vendors, high street retailers and second hand private sellers.

Let me walk you through it..

In 2020 something rather big happened which stood the world still, everyone stayed at home, got restless, bought a bike and went for a bike ride. The cycling industry went mad and the whole world pretty much sold out of bikes. Manufacturers experienced a global supply chain issue because of the widespread shutdown of parts and materials available, then the backlog of preordered bikes began. Shops couldn’t get any stock and the price of second hand bikes went through the roof. A lot of people just made do with whatever they had or could get hold of, some waited 10+ months for a preordered bike to arrive while some of us struggled to get parts as simple as inner tubes with which to fix their bikes.

Fast forward to today and it looks like this.

Retailers took hundreds of thousands of pre orders for bikes to meet the demand and then finally manufacturing resumed, gradually allowing the orders to be met. The problem became apparent when everyone went back to work. Shops were filling up with multiples of bikes with no-one to buy or ride them, online vendors were cancelling pre orders leaving the manufactures sitting on excess stock and then no-one had the free time to ride their new bikes anymore by being back at work and trying to catch up with some kind of normality.

This brings about the buyers market.

The second hand market is bustling with quality, hardly used bikes which were ridden a handful of times in some cases. Prices are at an all time low and the choice and variation is remarkable, like I said, all the bikes were sold and now this is where they can be found for bargain prices.

The new bike market is still trying to stabilise with high street shops overstocked and offering amazing deals on many models. Some online direct to customer brands have been so desperate to untie some money, that they have been seen offering vast discounts and even buy one get one free incentives on some models.

What the means for you..

If you’ve been thinking of treating yourself to a new bike then now is a perfect opportunity to seize your chance.

Ok so you’re in the market, ask yourself a few questions.

Bikes have come a long way in the last 20 years, there are many more formats and styles of bikes to try and navigate through and it can appear very confusing and overwhelming.

Things to consider:

-Where do you want to ride your bike?

Bikes are built for purpose, wether it be a solid, durable commuter bike, a hybrid style bike capable of relaxed weekend adventures on tarmac and trails, a new rocket ship road bike with the latest aero advantages, an aggressive full suspension mountain bike for bikepark lashings, hard tail mtb for days exploring the forests with friends, a gravel bike for big off road riding days with cycle groups capable of riding most everywhere or the format specific race bike of your liking, TT,CX,XC,DH you name it, there is a bike for that now.

-Ask yourself how much you want to spend.

I appreciate that’s probably an easy one, as little as possible for the best you can get, right? Let’s be realistic, if you aren’t super picky on what you want or need, then look closely at the second hand market. One could easily pick up a lightly used second hand bike in great mechanical working order for an absolute bargain, for example It’s achiveable to pick up a 2k bike for under a grand, or a 5k bike for 2.5k. It’s also fair to say that any new sub grand bike is built to a price, so the performance of the components, overall comfort and quality of such a bike is limited. Sometimes it’s more financially economical to buy a lightly used, originally more expensive bike for an affordable price than buy a new bike at the same value, but with an inferior finished quality. Keep in mind a used bike does not come with the warranty cover offered by manufacturers to the original buyer. If you want a bike with all the warranty cover it has to be new and have your name on the original bill of sale, just a heads up. If you are already pretty serious about cycling and know what you want/need then its fair to assume you’re in the new bike market place already.

-In either case, do your homework.

Talk to your local friendly bike shops, swing your leg over as many bikes as you can to build a picture in your head of what you are after. Talk to the mechanic! They are usually hiding out the back swinging the spanners and creating magic on peoples bikes, they will 99/100 times give you an honest opinion on what you ask them and offer some invaluable knowledge and advice, take it. Go to open days/test days if you are looking at an E-bike, as attractive as the price or paint job may be you’ll never know how it feels unless you ride one. Anyone with the money can spend it on a crazy expensive bike, that is no guarantee that you’ll fall in love with it straight out of the box. With that in mind, there are 100 ways to build a bike and only one optimum way to build it for the rider. There are many customisable variables factored into bikes which can drastically change the way it rides and makes your body respond after a few hours in the saddle, don’t be afraid to ask for advice, I’ve personally saved quite a few bike relationship issues over the years and seen owners fall in love with what they believed to be the wrong bike for them, it was rarely ever a bike problem but either an avoidable lack of initial homework or a set up issue that needed rectifying.

-Think about sizes.

Frames come in different sizes for different size people, each brand has its own slight variant on size so don’t expect a 56cm from an Italian brand to be the same as a 56cm US brand. Wheel size options are increasing every few years. As a quick rule, smaller wheel sizes suit smaller riders and larger wheel sizes better suit taller riders. Road and gravel bikes can be seen with 650 wheels on XS frame sets with 700c being the standard common format. Mtb wheel sets are pretty stable with 27.5″ or 29″ wheels these days, the earlier suiting the heavier/smaller, more aggressive riders because of their overall strength and durability and the latter suiting the more XC and taller riders because of their roll over potential on mixed terrain and their peddling efficiency.

-Key take aways.

Do your homework.

Ask for advice.

Join cycling groups if you’re thinking of getting into it.

Try before you buy where possible.

Speak to the mechanics.

Ride bikes, get outside, have fun.

If you have any cycling related enquiries that you’d like honest impartial advice addressing, feel free to email me at Phantombikerepair@gmail.com or like and follow me on my new business Instagram page @Phantom_bikerepair

For advice on adapted cycling please follow my main personal account on Instagram @Phantom.size10